Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Heathen Dawn · 06-17-2004, 07:54 AM

Let the expert on fear of death speak.

The sting of death is only relation to life prior to it. You never mourn those who have not yet been born; only those who were once alive and have died. A person or a cat or a dog with such liveliness, and emotions, and experiences, is suddenly extinguished and ceases to display those characteristics. Reason will never soothe this loss. Epicurus saying “when death is, I am not” is useless in this situation. It does not bother me in the slightest that I had not existed for over 15,000 million years before I was born; but it did scare the living daylights out of me that my entirety would be snuffed out one day, when I so believed.

Ellis14 · 06-17-2004, 08:14 AM

This thread would belong better in GRD...

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Tom Sawyer · 06-17-2004, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camp freddie

I'd say that evolution has given us all a powerful urge to continue to exist for as long as possible as well as a fear of ceasing to exist. These feelings give us a strong survival advantage over creatures that don't fear death.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaMan121

Are there any creatures that arent "afraid" of death? Or that dont have some kind of survival mechanisms? It seems self preservation is one of the the main instincts that all living things have, maybe that tells us something about the existense of an afterlife.

I think this was answered in camp freddie's post. Those that fear death have a survival advantage over those who don't fear death. This applies to other species as well as us and has done so for millions of years. Therefore those species that don't have an instictual fear of death were already been selected out long ago, which is why you see this in all living creatures.

I don't think it tells us anything other than fear of death is a good evolutionary strategy and it says nothing about the existence of the afterlife at all.

Novowels · 06-17-2004, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albert Cipriani

You know better than that. Something must first be alive before it can be dead. Or are you prepared to assert that rocks circa 1784 were dead, too, for they, like you and I, were not alive then?

Er.. But rocks are not alive now.

Marduk · 06-17-2004, 04:09 PM

“This is only used as an example since some people have a problem with wrapping their minds around the fact that there can be a state of non-existence.�?

The problem with this state of non-existence is that my previous state of non-existence culminated in my existence now. “Off�? states don’t count, you do not ‘experience’ them. Only the confusing 'on' states matter. If I try and imagine death, there is nothing to imagine, only a new 'on' state somewhere at some point in time.

06-17-2004, 08:14 AM	#12
Ellis14 Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: England Posts: 3,934	bye bye thread This thread would belong better in GRD... Ellis10 EoG Moderator

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06-17-2004, 07:54 AM	#11
Heathen Dawn Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 4,656	Let the expert on fear of death speak. The sting of death is only relation to life prior to it. You never mourn those who have not yet been born; only those who were once alive and have died. A person or a cat or a dog with such liveliness, and emotions, and experiences, is suddenly extinguished and ceases to display those characteristics. Reason will never soothe this loss. Epicurus saying “when death is, I am not” is useless in this situation. It does not bother me in the slightest that I had not existed for over 15,000 million years before I was born; but it did scare the living daylights out of me that my entirety would be snuffed out one day, when I so believed.

06-17-2004, 04:09 PM	#15
Marduk Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: the 10th planet Posts: 5,065	“This is only used as an example since some people have a problem with wrapping their minds around the fact that there can be a state of non-existence.�? The problem with this state of non-existence is that my previous state of non-existence culminated in my existence now. “Off�? states don’t count, you do not ‘experience’ them. Only the confusing 'on' states matter. If I try and imagine death, there is nothing to imagine, only a new 'on' state somewhere at some point in time.

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